1955 ANNUAL REPORT 

 ALASKA FOREST RESEARCH CENTER 



The continued movement of indiistry northward in British Columbia and 

 along the coast into Alaska makes it evident that the long unused 

 forest resources of Southeast Alaska will soon be in full use. There 

 is a need to take stock of the present status of things and to make 

 more definite plans for developing the resources, not only in South- 

 east Alaska, but in the Interior and along the coast to »Hhe westward". 



Since the establishment of the Alaska Forest Research Center in 1948, 

 pulp mills and related industry have spoken for all four management 

 units of the Tongass National Forest. The Ketchikan Pulp Cwnpany 

 has begun operations in the Ketchikan \mit and timber s^es have been 

 awarded to the Pacific Northern Timber Company in the Petersburg- 

 WrangeU unit, to the Georgia-Pacific Company for the Juneau unit, 

 and to the Alaska Lumber and Pulp Company, Ltd. of Tokyo for the Sitka 

 unit. 



The Alaska Forest Research Center is the only forest research organiza- 

 tion in Alaska. It began its work just as the first of these four 

 large companies came into the picture. It begins to be obvious that 

 forest research cannot keep pace with the problems of pulp timber 

 cutting already well under way. Research should have had more of a 

 head start. This is not a new observation; it has been a problem in 

 most forest regions. Research arrives, in many cases, just as industry 

 is taking a breather to look for more timber to cut in some new regiono 

 Will that be a warning so that forest research will know the problems 

 in the Interior and have the important ones solved before indiostry 

 begins active utilization of the timber resource? There has been no 

 forest research in the Interior or in the coastal forests to the 

 westward except for a 4-3ummer study (1949-1952) by the Reseeirch Center 

 to determine the effect of fire on Interior vegetation, including 

 timber. Since 1952 the Center has had to husband all of its finances 

 for the \argent work in Southeast Alaska. 



